Ashdod ringing and ponds

Yesterday I had a ringing session in Ashdod. We started bloody early and closed the nets very early too because of the heat. Ringing was OK, not more and not less, as expected in summer. Only bird of note was this colourful White-throated Kingfisher:


This was Rea's last time as a helper. He's moving to Eilat next month and hopefully gets his B permit next week, so he's a big boy now. Hope he produces some good birds at IBRCE. Thanks Rea for all the hard work over the last couple of years!

There were still some late migrants around - Blackcaps and a Lesser Whitethroat.
After ringing we had a quick look at the ponds. There were some gulls around. 6 Yellow-legged Gulls were a good record:

Also three Baltic Gulls were present:

Among the shorebirds there were some early migrants: 10 Green Sands, 1 Marsh Sand, 1 Common Sand and 2 Redshank.

Green Sandpiper

Hume's Owls and other stuff

On Thursday night I went with Jonathan Meyrav to the desert to search for Hume's Owls; this was part of a census the IOC is carrying out this year, to discover the true status in Israel of this magical but threatened bird.
We checked several sites; in one site we had two territorial males and a very curious female, and in the second site one pair. It was an amazing night - full moon, no wind, pleasent temperatures, and the desert was truly stunning. Unfortunately Jonathan is of the wrong sex, though he is quite handsome... We had breathtaking views of the female owl with the strong moon light - it's so nice to see the birds without disturbing them with a torch. The bird flew so close to us againt the moon; we could even see it was moulting its remiges...


Some other recent stuff:

The resident White-throated Kingfisher at the JBO showed well yesterday afternoon:

And this morning in Ashdod ringing was pretty slow due to strong easterlies, but this Water Rail was a good bird: